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Trump's comment about "animals" has drawn accusations of xenophobia, but the White House insists it was aimed only at violent gang members.

President Donald Trump listens during a May 16 roundtable event at the White House where he referred to some immigrants as "animals.." Trump on Thursday said that he had been referring to members of the transnational MS-13 gang when he used language that many critics called inappropriate.(Doug Mills / The New York Times)

WASHINGTON - First thing Monday, the White House blasted out an email titled: "WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE VIOLENT ANIMALS OF MS-13."

That's an unusual subject line, even from this administration.

President Donald Trump stirred an uproar last Wednesday by invoking the term "animals" at a roundtable discussion on sanctuary cities and illegal immigration. He and top aides have insisted since then that he was speaking only of violent gang members.

"These aren't people. These are animals," he said.

The context of his remarks was ambiguous enough to leave him open to attack. The latest White House missive could mean that Trump is still struggling to tamp down the uproar — or that he's in no hurry to let the controversy die.

His core supporters see knee-jerk Trump-bashing over the remark by the news media and the left, even as critics look with alarm at the eagerness to stir anti-immigrant sentiment by harping on a small but exceedingly dangerous element among them.

The sheriff in Fresno County, Calif., had just aired complaints about California state law that limits cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration officials. Trump called it a "disgrace."

"ICE is the only law enforcement agency that cannot use our databases to find the bad guys. They cannot come in and talk to people in our jail, unless they reach a certain threshold. They can't do all kinds of things that other law enforcement agencies can do. And it's really put us in a very bad position," Sheriff Margaret Mims told Trump.

The president assured her that the federal government is fighting the state sanctuary cities law. She replied: "Thank you. There could be an MS-13 member I know about — if they don't reach a certain threshold, I cannot tell ICE about it."

"We have people coming into the country, or trying to come in — and we're stopping a lot of them — but we're taking people out of the country. You wouldn't believe how bad these people are. These aren't people. These are animals," Trump said. "And we're taking them out of the country at a level and at a rate that's never happened before. And because of the weak laws, they come in fast, we get them, we release them, we get them again, we bring them out. It's crazy."

Fake News Media had me calling Immigrants, or Illegal Immigrants, “Animals.” Wrong! They were begrudgingly forced to withdraw their stories. I referred to MS 13 Gang Members as “Animals,” a big difference - and so true. Fake News got it purposely wrong, as usual!

Trump's broader point about immigrants who repeatedly cross the border but go free because of a "catch-and-release" policy is not specific to MS-13 gangs.

Rhetoric questioned

Like many of those who condemned Trump's comments, the Southern Poverty Law Center, a group that tracks hate speech, linked the rhetoric to that of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.

"His insinuation that immigration status or criminal record somehow determines humanity is not only appalling — it's dangerous. We've heard this dehumanizing rhetoric before. During the Holocaust, the Nazis called Jews Untermenschen — subhumans. Before the Rwandan genocide, Tutsis were called `cockroaches.' ... Dehumanizing rhetoric — unacceptable from anyone — is especially dangerous when it comes from the mouth of the president," the group wrote after Trump's comments.

Critics say Trump has long sought to stir anti-immigrant sentiment by focusing his rhetoric on the worst of the bad actors, then sought to harness that sentiment to promote a broader agenda of restricting immigration.

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Trump laid down a marker when he launched his presidential campaign at Trump Tower nearly two years ago: "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best," he said. "They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."

He rode the anti-immigrant backlash through the GOP primaries and into the White House.

In defending last week's comments, White House aides have glossed over the assertion that "these are not people," focusing instead on "animals" — a term that is used both figuratively and literally.

"Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and 'smart!'" Trump tweeted, in a warning that he would deploy U.S. missiles to disable Syria's chemical weapons. "You shouldn't be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!"

MS-13 examples of violence

A day after Trump's comment about MS-13 and possibly others, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders came to the briefing room prepared with graphic examples of violence perpetrated by MS-13 members.

"This is one of the most vicious and deadly gangs that operates by the motto of `rape, control, and kill.' If the media and liberals want to defend MS-13, they're more than welcome to," she said, after insisting that Trump had applied the term only to the gang.

"It took an animal to stab a man a hundred times and decapitate him and rip his heart out. It took an animal to beat a woman — they were sex trafficking — with a bat 28 times, indenting part of her body. And it took an animal to kidnap, drug, and rape a 14-year-old Houston girl. Frankly, I think that the term `animal' doesn't go far enough. And I think that the president should continue to use his platform and everything he can do under the law to stop these types of horrible, horrible, disgusting people."

Sanders called the gang members "people" as well as "animals."

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A day after he made the comment that caused the uproar, Trump and aides pushed back hard on the idea that "animals" applied to anyone besides violent gang members.

"I'm referring — and you know I'm referring — to the MS-13 gangs that are coming in," he said during a meeting with NATO's secretary general on Thursday, when asked by a Fox News reporter about the comment he'd made a day earlier. "MS-13, these are animals. They're coming into our country and we're getting them out. They come in again, we're getting them out. We need strong immigration laws.... So when the MS-13 comes in, when the other gang members come into our country, I refer to them as `animals.' And guess what? I always will."

"Too many innocent Americans have fallen victim to the unthinkable violence of MS-13's animals," it reads, adding the assurance that "President Trump's entire Administration is working tirelessly to bring these violent animals to justice."

Todd J. Gillman. Todd has been Washington Bureau Chief since 2009, six years after joining the bureau.
Before that he covered East Texas, City Hall and politics. He started at The Dallas Morning News in 1989 as an intern. He has been elected twice to the White House Correspondents’ Association board, with a term ending in 2020.
Todd has a Master in Public Policy from Harvard and a BA from Johns Hopkins in international studies.